- Top Gun: The Bulls are off and running as a playoff magnet for celebrities. Last year, Jack Nicholson was a regular. For Tuesday's first game of the second round, we rated Tom Cruise and wife Nicole Kidman. Cruise was the celebrity DJ.

- On the job 1: Maybe the first clue things were awry Tuesday in the NCAA hierarchy was this: Telephone callers early in the afternoon were greeted with a taped message stating that the entire staff was attending a meeting and no one would be available until 3 p.m.

- On the job 2: Dick Schultz is no stranger to losing a job. At Iowa, he resigned as head basketball coach after four seasons in which he posted a 41-55 record. His teams never were above .500 in the Big 10. His best player may have been Kevin Kunnert, a first-round choice who turned out to be one of the bigger disappointments in early Bulls' drafting history. Before that, he was Iowa's baseball coach for 7 1/2 seasons with a 129-10-6-3 record. His best baseball player? Probably catcher Jim Sundberg, who spent 16 years in the big leagues including a brief stint with the Cubs.

- P.S.: Schultz always can find a job as a pilot. He has his license.

- Camp town: Moody Bible Institute in Chicago has landed a real pro basketball plum. The annual NBA tryout camp here, always held at Illinois-Chicago, has been scheduled for June 9-12 in the institute's new Solheim Gym, according to Moody Athletic Director Sheldon Bassett. This is the event attended by most of the NBA's top GMs and coaches. League player development director Marty Blake brings in leading college prospects eligible for the draft, though some frequently choose to stay on the sidelines upon the advice of their agents. Bassett said his school's new facility, which will allow all the action to take place under one roof-unlike Illinois-Chicago-was the key. Solheim is used by several NBA teams, including the Cavaliers, who come to town to play the Bulls.

- P.S.: Last weekend, Moody hosted USA Basketball tryouts for the World University Games and national Under-22 squad. In addition to more than 100 NBA scouts and players, some of the coaches here were John Thompson, George Raveling, Roy Williams and P.J. Carlesimo. The school had only a few weeks to prepare when last-minute problems forced USA Basketball to find a different location from the one originally scheduled.

- Branching out: If things don't work out for Darren Lewis in football, the Bears' running back may be opening a whole career on Memorial Day weekend at Hawthorn Lanes in Vernon Hills. Lewis has been granted one of the spots allotted to non-pros for the annual PBA Midwest regional tournament. The event offers $20,000 in prize money. Host pro Bill Spigner said: "Darren stops in here once in a while with several other players and asked me about a spot. He's got good form and a lot of potential." He'll need it. National title winners entered include Les Zikes, Steve Jaros and Tony Cariello, in addition to Spigner. Darren probably will have to average 215 for his opening 10 games to make the initial cut-and then average in the low 220s to finish in the top five.

- On the tube: MTV, here last weekend to do Wrigley Field, has scheduled the broadcast of its day at the park for June 26. Host Dan Cortese, recognized by a number of players, took batting practice and was no slouch. He's an athlete. Dan played wide receiver on a North Carolina football team that went to the '88 Aloha Bowl.

- Mac's back: Jim McMahon did not attend a recent Holiday Bowl dinner in San Diego in which the event's first Hall of Fame was inducted, but the quarterback, an honoree, sent a taped message that drew a quick response. Mighty Mac noted that when his Brigham Young team once eked out a victory in the bowl, it won because a Catholic QB, him, threw a late touchdown pass to a Catholic tight end, Clay Brown, for the Mormon school. BYU coach Lavelle Edwards, who was at the dinner, immediately jumped up and said: "But a Mormon kicked the extra point."

- Around town 1: Billy Williams is scheduled to be among the guests Wednesday evening in the Hotel Nikko for a "Salute to Itzhak Perlman." Sound strange? Here's the sports connection: The event is a fundraiser for the Israel Center for Disabled Athletes. . . . Alabama defensive line coach Mike Dubose will be the keynoter Wednesday evening at the annual University of Chicago "Monsters of the Midway Twilight Clinic" at the university. . . . The U.S. Bocce Championships organizing committee, which is coordinating the tournament here June 12-19 at Alpine Country Club in Round Lake, holds a sponsor party Wednesday evening in the Mazzini-Verdi Club in Franklin Park.

- Position change: Seems like only yesterday Chicago was touted as home of the best shortstop in each league, Ozzie Guillen and Shawon Dunston. Let's change it to the home of baseball's best first basemen, Frank Thomas and Mark Grace.

- And finally: If the NBA playoffs max out to June 23, it will be only the second time in NBA history that the games have covered all four seasons.